Abstract
Anti-bullying policies and interventions are the main approach addressing bullying behaviours in Australian schools. However, the evidence supporting these approaches is inconsistent and its theoretical underpinning may be problematic. The current study examined the effects of a martial arts based psycho-social intervention on participants’ ratings of resilience and self-efficacy, delivered as a randomised controlled trial to 283 secondary school students. Results found a consistent pattern for strengths-based wellbeing outcomes. All measures relating to resilience and self-efficacy improved for the intervention group, whereas results declined for the control group. These findings suggest that a martial arts based psycho-social intervention may be an efficacious method of improving wellbeing outcomes including resilience and self-efficacy. The study proposes utilising alternatives to the anti-bullying approach and that interventions should be aimed towards helping individuals develop strengths and cope more effectively, which has specific relevance to bullying and more generalised importance to positive mental health.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 81 |
Pages (from-to) | 1-18 |
Number of pages | 18 |
Journal | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
Volume | 16 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jan 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Copyright the Author(s) 2018. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.Keywords
- bullying
- martial arts
- mental health
- resilience
- self-efficacy
- wellbeing